Sensorial Program and Toddler Tuesday!

Tuesdays are made for toddlers at MCMA!

Today was jam-packed with educational art making in our new Sensorial Program for Children and Toddler Tuesday! Here's what we did...

In our Sensorial Program for Children, we made Discovery Bottles!

image via Sense of Wonder

These fun bottles help children build vocabulary and teach about discovery, observation, and predictability, all while sharpening dexterity and allowing children to feel pride in their work.
Parents got to take home a sheet that explains how to recreate the lesson at home, as well as a whole list of ideas of objects to use in their bottles. Even better, we used birdseed as filler so that, when children are done with this toy, you can reuse the contents to feed animals!

Our Sensorial Program for Children is one day a month, beginning at 10 am and going until 10:45 am. If you decide to stay for Toddler Tuesday (which begins at 11), there are 15 minutes for you to browse the art galleries with your child. This provides a break for your child and helps enhance learning in later lessons.



Toddler Tuesday was a lot of fun today as we continued our bird theme and read two books. The first was Birdsong by Ellie Sandall. It was a goofy book about bird calls, the children enjoyed the funny sounds. The second book was Basil's Birds by Lynn Rowe Read, which was even more of a hit! This silly story was about a man who had a bird's nest on his head, the children giggled a lot.

 

After reading, we went down to the MCMA art studios to create... you guessed it! Birds!

image via Treehouse Kid & Craft

This was our sample piece!

Want to make your own bird? Here's how:

You will need...

- Pipe Cleaners

- Sticks

- Construction Paper

- Markers

- Yarn

- A Hot Glue Gun

- Feathers (we used colored acetate)

- Googly Eyes (optional)

Step 1. Cut some construction paper in the shape of a bird.

Step 2. Color that bird using markers. Encourage shapes.

Step 3. Choose a stick, then choose 2 pipe cleaners.

Step 4. Begin twisting the pipe cleaners, then twist it over one end of the stick so it stays in place. Create an arch shape and twist it over the other end of the stick as you get close to the end of the pipe cleaner.

Step 5. Hot glue (adults only!) a feather to the back of the bird. Hot glue a googly eye if you wish.

Step 6. Hot glue the bird to the stick.

Step 7. Add a piece of yarn to the top to make it into an ornament, a popular alternative was to turn it into a necklace with a large piece of yarn!

Step 8. Voila! Enjoy!

We hope to see you at Toddler Tuesday next week!